Symbolism in Walk Two Moons

By: Lizzie General

Symbolism in Walk Two Moons

By: Lizzie General

Summary of Novel

Sharon Creech's novel, Walk Two Moons, is all about a 13-year old girl, named Sal. Sal is on a road trip with her grandparents to find her mom in Lewiston, Idaho. On the way, Sal tells her grandparents the story of their friend, Pheobe Winterbottom.

Thesis Statement

All through the novel Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech uses symbolism to show deeper meanings to the character.

Trees

Through out the novel, Walk Two Moons, one of the many symbols Creech uses is trees. In the book it is first used for Sal to pray to it so she can have a safe trip and not be in a car accident. "Over and over, I prayed to trees." (Creech 7) Then, later in the novel, Sal admits that she kisses trees in her journal. She writes "In my mini journal, I confessed that I had since kissed all different types of trees--oaks, maples,elms, birches--each had a special flavor" (Creech 122-123) Sal loves trees in this novel. The Trees are a thing to make Sal feel safer and comfort her. The trees symbolize love, and comfort. Creech uses this symbol to show readers that Sal has a deeper feeling and meaning to trees than others.

Blackberries

In Walk Two Moons, another symbol Creech uses is blackberries. The first time they are mentioned is when Sal is picking blackberries with her mom. "And then I started thinking about the blackberries, and I remembered a time my mother and I walked around the rims of the fields and pastures in Bybanks, picking blackberries." (Creech 32-33)

Then Creech uses it again when her mom eats blackberries and kisses a tree. "As she approached the corner of the barn where the sugar maples stands, she plucked a few blackberries from a stray bush and popped them into her mouth. She looked all around her -- back at the house, across the fields, and up into the canopy of branches overhead. She took several quick steps up to the trunk of the maple, threw her arms around it, and kissed that tree soundly." (Creech 122) The blackberries remind Sal off her mom and the memories of her. They also remind her of how she looked and how she acted. The Blackberries are something Sal's mom loved to eat. Creech uses this symbol to help the reader understand how much Sal loved her mom.